Scintillation, luminescence and optical properties of Ce-Doped borosilicate glasses

The structure, ultraviolet (UV) transparency, luminescence, and scintillation of CeO₂-doped (0.1 mol%) borosilicate glasses containing Sb₂O₃, SnO₂ or P₂O₅ were investigated. Glasses were prepared by melt quenching in air and characterized by several spectroscopy techniques: Raman scattering, optical absorption, photoluminescence (PL), fluorescence lifetime, thermoluminescence, and radioluminescence. Raman scattering results presented three major groups of vibrational modes, within 230–850 cm⁻¹, 850-1250 cm⁻¹, and 1250-1600 cm⁻¹. Luminescence was dominated by a broad band centered at around 360–380 nm, depending on the chemical composition of the glass. Photoluminescence presented a dominant (96–98%) fast decay time of 36–40 ns that was ascribed to Ce³⁺. The P₂O₅-containing glass showed the highest scintillation output under X-ray excitation.